health

by Nina Just a quick announcement today about some research findings I think you�ll all enjoy learning about. Baxter and I read about a recent study , designed by Maria G. Araneta, PhD, MPH, of the University of California, San Diego, to determine whether obese women lose fat from less intense exercise instead of aerobic activity. Although not a huge study, the groups were larger than most of those we see in recent studies, with the yoga group of 88 having a mean age of 55 years with an average BMI of 36 kg/m2 and the stretch group of 83 having a mean age of 54 years with an average BMI of 32.5 kg/m2. Along with her co-authors Matthew A. Allison, MD, MPH, Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD, and Alka M. Kanaya, MD, Dr. Araneta presented the results at the 73rd Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago (June 21-25). And the results showed that the practitioners of restorative yoga lost significantly more subcutaneous fat over the initial six months of the study. They ...

by Nina It�s no secret that I�m a huge fan of supported inverted yoga poses. I starting raving about them in the early days of Yoga for Healthy Aging in my post Just In Time for the Holidays: Inverted Poses , going on and on about how these poses are so beneficial for stress management (and also for circulation). Later on, I wrote in detail about why�from a scientific perspective�these posts are so effective at reducing stress in my post Why You Should Love Your Baroreceptors . But if you�re newer to yoga or can�t do the classic inverted poses, Headstand and Shoulderstand (or just can�t get comfortable in them), you might be wondering: how does all this apply to you? Well, I�m here today to assure you that with certain exceptions due to medical conditions (see Cautions for Inversions ), everyone can do at least some of the supported inverted yoga poses. That�s because in yoga an inverted pose is any pose where your heart is higher than your head. So in addition to �full� inversions suc...

by Nina Horses Grazing by Brad Gibson It's a running joke in our family that when Brad gets impatient with me�because I often do various household tasks a bit slower than he does�he says to me, "Take your time!" He swears that Bill Murray said this repeatedly in the movie Caddy Shack, but when we watched it again recently, no one actually ever uttered that line. Regardless, I always reply, "You take your time." But many worthwhile things really do take time. For example, if you want to cook a really good meal instead of eating fast food, you need to shop for fresh ingredients and prepare everything from scratch. And if you want to turn a new acquaintance into a close friend, you need to spend a lot of time together, getting to know and trust each other. The same is true for seeing results from yoga practice. Obviously, one Downward-Facing Dog pose doesn't instantly make your arms stronger, though with regular practice, it definitely will increase your str...

by Nina I found this nice little illustration of baroreceptors that I'm excited to share with you. Okay, I admit it, I'm a little obsessed with baroreceptors. But that's because ever since I found out how our baroreceptors help regulate our blood pressure and I understood how we can use this aspect of our anatomy to switch our nervous systems from fight or flight to relaxation mode, I've not only included supported inverted poses in my practice on a regular basis but I've been on a mission to spread the word. Using supported inverted poses for stress management is one of easiest ways�at least for me�to calm yourself down because all you have to do is set yourself in the pose and stay there for a while. The shape of the pose itself causes the baroreceptors to work their magic. As I wrote in my post Just in Time for the Holidays: Inverted Poses , the reason that inverted poses trigger the relaxation response is due to the pressure sensors called baroreceptors that are...

by Nina Close-Up of the Falls by Melina Meza As I wrote in Your Breath: The Key to Your Nervous System , while you cannot tell your nervous system directly to slow your heart beat, digest your food more quickly or to start relaxing right this minute, you can control your breath. And because your heart rate tends to speed up on your inhalation and your heart rate tends to slow on your exhalation, this enables you to consciously access your nervous system. By intentionally taking in more air (either by speeding up your breath or by lengthening your inhalation) you can stimulate your nervous system. And by taking in less air (by slowing your breath or lengthening your exhalation), you can calm yourself down. Last week, I wrote about emotional counter-poses that you can use to balance your emotions. You can use various yogic breath practices in the same way. You can use breath practices when nothing serious is wrong but you�re just feeling slightly hyper (see anxiety or stress) or sligh...

by Nina Last week in my posts about anxiety Anxiety, Yoga, and the Front Body and Soothing Yourself With Supported Forward Bends , I discussed yoga poses to rely on when you�re feeling anxious (supported inversions and forward bends) and yoga poses to avoid when you�re in that state (backbends, twists, and Sun Salutations). It makes sense if you�re in a crisis period to practice the poses that calm you down and avoid stimulating poses that might exacerbate your condition. However, if you�re in a state of chronic anxiety, avoiding backbends, twists, and many of the active poses for a long period of time will move your body toward imbalance. The same is true if your practice is focused on any emotion-based condition, such as agitated depression, clinical depression, or even just chronic stress. In this case, I feel it is better to return to a more well-rounded yoga practice (see A Week of Yoga Practice ) but consider how you end your practices. By choosing an appropriate counter-pose to...

by Nina I thought that today I�d introduce you to some of favorite quieting poses: supported forward bends. A supported forward bend is one where you use a prop, such as a bolster, stack of blankets or a chair seat to support your head and arms as you stay in the pose. Relaxing onto the support helps remove straining from the pose and enhances the quieting quality of the forward bend. These are gentle, inward-turning poses that both calming and nurturing. You can do supported forward bends in two forms: standing and seated. Standing supported forward bends are particularly good for stress as they are partial inversions. See Just in Time for the Holidays: Inverted Poses for information about why inverted poses, including partial inversions, are so beneficial for stress management. Because the supported seated forward bends are less active than the standing versions, they are more quieting. And because you�re resting the weight of your head and relaxing your neck, these poses may also h...

Hello. This time I would like to write an article about stress management and how to cope with this problem. To begin with, let me tell you something that is really important. You should understand that the bills won't stop coming, you will have the same responsibilities to your family, there won't be more than 24 hours a day and a lot more things. BUT!!! You must read and try to make your next sentence your motto -> "You are the one who controls your life!" Very often a feels stressed while working too long, have something really important to do and sometimes even if a person is hungry. One important thing to do is to realise that you should take a break and even 5 minutes without thinking of the work you should do could be really important for your healthy life because we all know that with less stress, you would be happier. I also want to tell you something -> Smoking will NOT help you reduce stress , drinking alcohol too. If somebody is stressed it is prove...